Brodny's relationship with Steed is more "natural" than some of Steed's supposed friends and fellow agents (usually previously-unseen); I quite like it, especially Brodny's touching 'puppyish' copying of Steed's bowler/umbrella look! But to my mind Julian Glover is too similar in each one of his roles (always typecast as an arrogant/military type).

Bizarrely, "Colonel Psev" manages to telephone the Russian quartet at one point, even though they are all his constituents and all in the room together! Why was this arranged, and how? Also, when Brodny is at the fashion show his (sensible) first action is to telephone Steed to see if he is at his apartment — Steed's dialogue in answering the phone shows he is genuinely puzzled by the silent caller; so this cannot be a tape. What if Brodny had spoken? Could the "Steed" tape operated by Major Carson have coped?

I think Brodny attending the fashion show was to be predicted: Psev buys lots of suits and follows fashion (revealed in Steed/Emma dialogue). So whilst Emma covers the aero-model shop (a Psev obsession), Steed/Webster covers another of Psev's interests. No doubt if these had failed, they would have tried another location.

Emma/Diana on a horse in a very "Theresa di Vincenza" riding outfit? Absolutely glorious.

Three bowlers out of four. 8/10._________________Last watched: The Man in the Mirror.

I love Brodny, so I'm always glad to see him hanging around, and there's lots of amusing repartee in this episode. I like the Webster (Bad Steed) character, which brings back shades of Cathy Gale-era Steed. The same goes for Emma's obvious but nicely underplayed distress at his death. However, I'm always uncomfortable with the way the episode is set up. It doesn't quite gel with the Steed/Peel relationship - he usually trusts her more than he does Cathy, the only other exception being where she's literally being "got at" in Too Many Christmas Trees. As such, his manipulation of her comes off as borderline cruel, especially as he allows her to be captured, teases her with the tie-pin, and then all but forces her to listen to him being killed. There are several opportunities for him to tell her what's going on, which he never does, and it nearly results in his own death. It seems out of keeping with the way their relationship has been developed and in some ways makes little sense. At the end of the day, I think the episode tries a bit too hard and comes off as manipulative.

There's a moment where Emma is quite prepared to shoot Webster in the head (when she thinks Steed has already been killed by Webster). Steed really was playing with fire by keeping her in the dark._________________Last watched: The Man in the Mirror.